October 8th, 2008
Found at Military Photos:
German Bundeswehr army snipers with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) take position on a shooting range in Kunduz October 7, 2008. Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet agreed on Tuesday to extend Germany's participation in a NATO peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan and raise the number of troops it can send there by 1,000, a government official said.
Not sure about the “snipers” part, but we can see a couple set-ups of the rifle here, including (third from the front) what may be an MG36 squad automatic weapon version of the G36. A better shot of the machine gun at Murdoc Online, and weigh in if you have more info. I didn’t think that very many of the MG36s were built. Yet here one (maybe?) is.
(UPDATE: I googled around a bit and now think it’s probably an MG43, also produced by H&K, typed MG4 by the German army. See it here.)
A couple of the rifles sport AG36 under barrel 40mm grenade launchers.
The XM8 assault rifle, rejected by the US Army but winner of last year’s “dust chamber” tests, is based on the G36.
More photos below:
October 8th, 2008 at 7:59 am
[...] And lots more photos at GunPundit. [...]
October 8th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
Looks like they aren’t just your standard reg force troops…I know that for Canadian, Brits, and Yanks, we’re extremely strict on the wearing of helmets on shooting ranges…especially a live-fire range like this one (they’re practicing fire-and-movement live-fire exercises by the looks of it). The fact that they’re shooting live without helmets would never be accepted on Canadian ranges…except for JTF-2 and possibly CSOR (our new Canadian Special Operations Regiment). I think it’s a NATO standard, so the sniper thing could quite possibly be true
October 9th, 2008 at 7:13 am
[...] G36 Gun Pundit has some good shots of the German Bundeswehr troops in Afghanistan sporting the G36 [...]
October 9th, 2008 at 8:43 am
[...] German Bundeswehr G36 [...]
October 9th, 2008 at 10:42 am
Why do they use an extra sight mounted on top of the integral reflex sight at the back of the carry handle? None of them have a proper cheek weld because of it. No doubt these guys do just fine anyway, they look like they probably know a thing or two about fighting, just have never seen that.
October 9th, 2008 at 11:49 am
@Nadnerbus:
The extra sight on top IS a red-dot reflex sight. The integral sight in the carry handle is the 3x magnifiying sight for longer range shots.